KUALA LUMPUR: Employers consider fresh graduates liabilities as many require additional training before they can perform.
Companies would rather hire experienced and skilled professionals who can bring instant returns, said Kelly Services marketing director for Singapore and Malaysia Jeannie Khoo.
She
saidemployers felt many fresh graduates lacked communication skills
and had poor English and needed to improve before they could add value
to the business.
“This means additional costs for the company.
Employers are looking for people who can hit the ground running,” she
said after launching the Kelly Services Professional and Technical
Salary Guide 2012 here yesterday.
Khoo said the 27 polytechnics
in the country generated thousands of skilled workers every year but
many of them needed to be retrained by their employers.
She advised fresh graduates to be less choosy and to have realistic expectations on salary and remuneration.
“You are unlikely to earn RM3,000 in your first job.
“Be willing to learn. If you are offered an internship, take it,” she said.
Kelly
Services Asia Pacific head of professional and technical, Mark Sparrow,
said demand was growing for professionals with experience and niche
skills.
He said there was a global shortage of talent in
specialised areas of engineering, accountancy, technology and financial
services.
“There is high demand for engineers, especially in the
Asia-Pacific region, such as Indonesia and Thailand which are rebuilding
their cities following natural disasters,” he said.
He added the
“hot jobs” in Malaysia included risk management specialists,
construction and environment engineers, software development specialists
and marketing and sales personnel who are fluent in English.
After nearly 45 years, issues remain for Asean to sort out, ponder over and resolve satisfactorily.
SOME
developments have lately resulted in multiple challenges confronting
Asean. Chief among these is the lack of understanding of Asean, its
origins and its purposes, notably within Asean member countries
themselves.
Since its inception in 1967, Asean has tended to
avoid calling a spade a spade for reasons of national sensitivities or
avoiding controversy. The founding meeting in Bangkok that year was even
described as an effort to improve economic relations, even though more
serious geopolitical issues such as Indonesia’s relations with Malaysia
and Singapore were at stake.
Another reason for the lack of an
Asean awareness among Asean peoples is that official proceedings have
been dominated and even monopolised by national elites. Even with
economic development as a key issue from the beginning, the Asean
Business Council took three decades to be established.
Security
drill: Cambodian riot police during an exercise to prepare for the
upcoming Asean summit in Phnom Penh. Cambodia hosts the 20th Asean
Summit next month. — EPA
Social and cultural issues
would have to take even longer. Everything had to undergo a laborious
process of initial proposal, official consideration, outsourced study
(such as an Eminent Persons Group), considered refinement, likely
revisions, possible horse trading, formal approval and final adoption.
Even
if the entire process is necessary, it could also be expedited. More
important yet, parallel processes could occur to dovetail the sequential
stages.
That would mean involving more people and agencies than
just the heads of government, key ministers and secretariat staff. And
that would imply educating, engaging and empowering more people in Asean
countries about Asean and its work.
Thus the third reason for
the lack of awareness is that little or nothing has been done to inform
and involve more people in the region. It might be said that an inherent
danger lies in a new generation of Asean citizens growing up
under-informed about regional imperatives, except that even the older
generation is equally unaware.
Some critics have blamed the
custom of consensus-reaching for the plodding pace, but other regional
organisations like the EU have not experienced consensualism as a
nagging problem. The respective agendas of individual governments, which
change quicker and less predictably in some Asean countries than in
others, could be a factor.
Nonetheless, Asean’s challenges of
economic productivity and competitiveness, geopolitical
confidence-building and comfort levels, and socio-cultural peace and
stability remain. If anything, developments such as a rising China and
India, a resurgent Russia and a revitalised US foreign policy focus on
East Asia only make Asean cohesiveness more urgent yet also more
fraught.
Asean itself has responded by scheduling an Asean
Community by 2015 comprising three pillars: an Economic Community, a
Security Community and a Socio-cultural Community. Could this goal be
too ambitious, since it had taken 21 years just to convene the third
Asean summit?
To help the process along, Malaysia’s Foreign
Policy Study Group recently held a roundtable conference on
Malaysia-Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam relations in strengthening Asean
Regionalism.
The non-official occasion was intended to
complement, not compete with, formal Asean processes and proceedings.
Still, a fundamental question asked by some delegates was why the event
had to be limited to just four of the 10 Asean countries.
The
answer should be obvious: limits on resources including time, and a
limited effort such as this had to start somewhere. More Asean countries
would participate in future roundtables, and Asean itself provides for
small initial efforts in its “10 - x” formula.
There were reasons
for the four Asean countries that participated through their retired
officials and student representatives: Malaysia and Indonesia as the key
founding members of Asean, Thailand as Asean’s origin in the 1967
Bangkok Declaration, and Vietnam in generally being regarded as the main
country among the newer (CLMV) members.
Another question
concerned more frequent use of currency swaps among Asean countries, and
the prospect of greater reciprocal use of national currencies in
bilateral trade. This would avoid exchange rate costs with the use of a
third-country currency such as the dollar or euro.
Some
participants thought the membership of 10 countries was sizeable and a
likely source of problems in discouraging common agreement. If that is
an issue now, it could grow since Timor Leste is poised to be the 11th
member, with Papua New Guinea conceivably waiting in the wings.
Some
foreign participants credited Malaysia with having achieved
considerable success in economic and educational development. The
disparities within Asean also mean that each country could excel in a
particular area, so it would help all members if a panel of best
practices for a variety of sectors could be established, with
contributions from each country based on its experiences and
achievements.
A reference was made to Asean’s policy of
non-intervention in the internal affairs of member nations by way of a
criticism of its seeming inaction. However, that policy as derived from
Bandung is a universal principle common to all regional groupings,
without which unwelcome and hostile unilateral actions would be rife.
More
to the point, Asean appears to have adopted non-intervention to the
extent of not even remarking on the travails of a member country even
when problems spill over into a neighbouring country. In practice,
concepts like “non-intervention” are largely defined by Asean to begin
with, so Asean can act without seeing itself as acting.
An
underlying but unspoken issue was that Asean countries are fully capable
of handling the problems within and between them. There is no basis for
major power intervention, since that would unduly complicate and
compound the original problem.
Cross-border issues are routinely
managed, while rival maritime claims linger. The only enduring problem
is an inability to form an all-Asean military force, even if that is
desirable.
To help boost Asean awareness, Asean scholarships,
student exchanges, an Asean Day in August, a Visit Asean Year promoting
the region as a tour package, and a popular talent-entertainment
programme appealing to young people are possibilities. But until today,
even an Asean lane at airport immigration counters as proposed by a
former Malaysian foreign minister more than 20 years ago has still not
taken off.
In reshaping an Asean for the times, its basic
ingredients of peace, freedom, neutrality, amity and cooperation need to
be maintained while addressing current needs and challenges. But
whether there is any Asean leader today with the requisite regional
vision is still very much an open question. Behind The Headlines By Bunn Nagara
M’sian side never given chance to object to ‘one maid, one task’
By P. ARUNA aruna@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: Indonesian officials appeared to have decided on their
own on the “one maid, one task” ruling at the meeting of the joint task
force in Jakarta on Thursday.
“They just announced the ruling and did not ask the Malaysian side whether or not they agreed,” an Indonesian participant told The Star in a telephone interview.
“Dr Reyna Usman
(the Indonesian Labour Placement Development director-general) made the
announcement and the meeting then moved on to other matters,” said the
participant who asked not to be identified.
The ruling had caused
an uproar in Malaysia, with the associations for both agents and
employers now wanting to know whether the Malaysian officials had agreed
to it, and if so why.
Dr Reyna had said the fresh batch of
Indonesian maids would be trained in four household chores cooking,
babysitting, taking care of the elderly and housekeeping but each would
perform only one of these tasks for her employer and be paid RM700 a
month.
She added that the ruling was to prevent a recurrence of the problems affecting maids and employers.
The Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) acting president Jeffrey Foo said the officials, led by Labour Department director-general Datuk Sheikh Yahya Mohamed, should explain what transpired at the meeting.
“If our officials agreed to it (the ruling), they must explain it to us,” he said.
Malaysian Maid Employers' Association (Mama) president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku Muhsein concurred, saying: “There are many doubts that need to be cleared. We want to know what really happened at the meeting.”
None of the Malaysian officials present at the meeting have commented on the decision.
Sheikh Yahya could not be reached for comment.
Raw deal in this new deal On The Beat By Wong Chun Wai
Malaysians are not amused with Indonesia’s latest condition on hiring of maids.
I HAVE only one Indonesian maid and come July, she would have worked with my family for seven years.
Yuli,
who comes from Way Halom in Sumatra, is regarded as a family member.
She eats the same food we eat. She goes on annual local holidays with us
and her birthday is celebrated with a good dinner and cake.
Occasionally, she goes to watch concerts with the family.
My wife
insists that she gets to return to Indonesia during her break on
Malaysia Airlines and arrangements are made at the airport so she would
not be hassled by Indonesian Immigration officers and hustlers.
Yuli
gets a say in most decisions involving the household and I have my
lucky stars to thank, considering that many Malaysians have a horror
story to tell about their maids.
She has picked up the English
language, learnt how to cook some of my favourite Penang nyonya food,
and she can even laugh at the Hokkien sitcoms on Astro.
But my sister-in-law has not been lucky. She has had two maids and both were a disaster.
The
first was an Indonesian from Flores who spent most of her time in the
living room in front of the TV rather than in the kitchen. Her addiction
to instant noodles would have made her worthy of an academic study.
The
second, a Cambodian, was worse. She put on weight within weeks of her
employment after she discovered the magic of the refrigerator and oven.
But
that wasn’t enough. She stole food, secretly storing them in a bag in
her room. Apparently, she’s never heard of expiry dates.
Still,
that was tolerable until she decided to go on a mutiny, snubbing
directives and snapping back at her boss. Then she walked off and
refused to come back.
Here’s the best part: the agency had the
audacity to ask for her salary to be paid despite her absence without
leave and work not rendered.
I won’t be surprised if she has been “recycled” and is now with another desperate Malaysian couple who needs a maid.
There’s another story. Lady boss asked the Cambodian maid why she had not prepared the husband’s breakfast as she was told.
The maid’s reply: “Madam, Sir is already big. Sir knows how to make breakfast. I no need.”
I swear this is not made up, but I am not sure if the maid has gone for counselling or if she has been sent back to Cambodia.
And
here’s another one. There is a friend who installed CCTV at his home so
he could monitor what’s happening there from his office. Lucky for him –
he found out he had a psychopath on his hands when he saw his
Indonesian maid regularly talking to her image in the mirror and rolling
on the floor laughing hysterically.
She would burn so-called blessed papers, presumably jampi,
and insist that his children consume them before they went to school.
The final straw came when she asked my friend to post her “love letters”
– addressed to President Suharto!
Again, we are not sure if
she’s safely back and undergoing mental treatment in her home country or
if she’s with another new Malaysian tuan. Hope someone tells her there’s now a new Indonesian president.
There
may be stories of maids being abused and certainly Malaysians in their
right mind would not tolerate such incidents. It gives our country a bad
name and also leads to pressure from their countries to slow down the
numbers coming in to Malaysia.
But there are also stories of
Malaysian employers who suffer emotional and financial abuse from maids.
These are less reported but that does not mean they are isolated cases
or it’s simply because non-governmental organisations are not taking up
cases of abused employers.
So, Malaysians are not amused when
Indonesia tells us that their maids headed here will only perform one
task and must be paid RM700 for that.
I believe Malaysian
employers would not mind paying more, but not for less work. Pressing
frustrated employers with such unreasonable demands is certainly going
overboard.
It has been reported that the fresh batch of 106
Indonesian maids headed here would only carry out one task for their
bosses. They would be trained to do four household chores – cooking,
babysitting, taking care of the elderly, and housekeeping – but will
perform only one of these tasks for their employers.
The report
stated that the workers were undergoing four skills training courses
over 21 days and must be paid RM700 a month by their Malaysian
employers.
The Malaysian Maid Employers’ Association and
Malaysian National Association of Employment Agencies have rightly
questioned the announcement. Come on, this one is surely a bad deal.
Cut out the hypocrisy in the anti-palm oil campaign.
THERE’S
no such thing as a national tree in Malaysia but if ever there has to
be one, I would propose the oil palm tree. It may have originated from
elsewhere, like the rubber tree, but it has been a miracle tree for this
country.
Many Malaysians are aware that palm oil is used as raw
material for cooking oil and soap but not many would know that it is
also used in the making of instant noodles, cookies, biscuits, candles,
washing powder and even medical and cosmetic products, including
anti-ageing applications.
Even the tree’s trunks can be used for making furniture.
Palm
oil can also be used to create biodiesel. Since 2007, all diesel sold
in Malaysia must contain 5% palm oil, putting us at the forefront of
promoting biodiesel.
But more importantly, the Malaysian palm oil
industry earned a healthy RM60bil in 2010. This was an increase of
RM10bil from 2009. Revenue is projected to reach RM80bil and the
perception is that the industry will eventually be the country’s biggest
money earner.
The income generated by the high price of palm oil
has led to a mini economic boom in rural townships throughout the
country and benefited the ordinary people.
In simple language, it
means an assurance of jobs and income, with a guaranteed daily wage of
RM90 in rural areas where the cost of living is low.
In contrast,
as shown in some studies, the rural population of many developing
countries often earns a mere RM7 per day and employment is sometimes
limited or seasonal.
The fact is that while over one billion
people have scarce access to food and jobs globally, in Malaysia, we
rely on 300,000 foreigners to take on jobs we shun. This includes jobs
in the palm oil industry.
In Malaysia, our concern is not lack of
food but how to cut down on intake of carbohydrates to reduce our
waistline. Slimming centres have become a multi-million ringgit business
because of this.
For the foreign labourers working in oil palm
plantations here, their employment means there will be food daily for
over a million family members in Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines
and other countries.
Oil palm is also important for the
Malaysian smallholders and the retail business, which will enjoy the
trickle-down effect. And the Government will gain as well, through the
collection of corporate taxes, which are then used for education, health
and infrastructure development.
It means a lot for the children of the smallholders and foreign workers who know they won’t have to go to bed hungry each night.
Over
the past few months, however, their livelihood has been threatened by
Western non-governmental organisations who have stepped up their
campaign against Malaysia’s palm oil industry.
This time, they
have widened their target audience to include even primary school
children in the United States, Europe and Australia.
If the
argument in the past was about health, this time the campaign has
shifted towards the purported deforestation of land and the killing of
orang utan. Naturally, these issues would be more emotionally appealing
and fashionable given the global concern for environmental issues.
No
one in his right mind would argue against protecting the environment
but the red flag, rather than the green flag, has to be raised when the
real issue is whether these NGOs are being funded by lobbyists from the
soy bean, sunflower and other seed oil competitors.
There is a
lot of hypocrisy here, really. Orang utans may have been affected but
look at the shocking decline in the number of koalas in Australia as a
result of human clearing and other factors.
It has been reported
that the number of koalas has dropped by 95% since the 1990s and that
only 43,000 of these tree-dwelling marsupial are left on the mainland.
In southeast Queensland, the number has dropped from 25,000 to 4,000 in a
decade. Just Google for more information.
Even the world’s 1.5
billion cows are being blamed. There’s a 400-page report quoting the
United Nations, which has identified the world’s rapidly growing herds
of cattle as a huge threat to the climate, forests and wild life. And
they are being blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, too,
from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, producing deserts
to creating dead zones in the oceans, poisoning rivers and drinking
water to destroying coral reefs.
Livestock
is responsible for 18% of the greenhouse gases that cause global
warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put
together – and there’s a lot of cows and sheep in Australia, I believe.
The Independent
newspaper in Britain reported that burning fuel to produce fertilisers
to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it, and clearing
vegetation for grazing, produces 9% of all emissions of carbon dioxide,
the most common greenhouse gas.
And wind and manure from
livestock account for more than one-third of emissions of another gas,
methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.
But
I feel that the greatest contributor to global warming has been left
out – the great appetite of developed countries for fossil fuel, which
is essential for their continued economic performance. The need to
continue their lifestyle contributes to the huge emission of CO2.
It
makes them look intelligent talking about orang utan and deforestation
in exotic Borneo, which many might not even be able to locate on the
map, while drinking Dom Perignon at fancy parties after being dropped
off by chauffeur-driven gas-guzzling limousines.
Kamal Ashnawi's tale draws scorn and sarcasm from online community
P. ARUNA aruna@thestar.com.my The Star/Asia News Network
PETALING JAYA: The Tanjung Malim-born, who claims to be a
“trillionaire” and the owner of treasure stashed away in a secret cave,
has got the online community buzzing about his proclamation of royalty,
too.
Most of the comments were scornful and sarcastic, with many calling Kamal Ashnawi the creator of a mighty tall tale.
In
response, Kamal said he was not surprised by the negative reaction,
saying the “common people” would soon see evidence of his claims.
Facebook user Khairul Nizam Anuarul Hakim said Kamal’s story was illogical and compared it to popular Japanese comic character Doraemon.
“The story of Doraemon seems more logical than this guy’s story,” he said.
Kamal, 48, a Dutch citizen, claimed, in an article published in The Star yesterday, that he was a descendant of royal families in China, India, Java and Siam.
He
said 86.7% of the money in the world belonged to him as he had
treasures hidden in a three-metre-high cave, with gold bars stacked up
like a pagoda, US$15mil (RM46mil) in jade and US$10mil (RM31mil) in
diamonds and stacks of US dollars.
Kamal, who hopes to be
recognised as the Emperor of Indonesia soon, claimed that the treasures
belonged to the dynasties that ruled China, and that there was more in
other mountains and vaults all over the world.
He had shown
documents, allegedly from a London branch of HSBC, to prove that he has
five trillion euros (RM20 trillion) in an account there.
Kamal said he had come forward because there were too many false claims by others who said they were owners of the royal assets.
Both the local and London branches of HSBC bank declined to verify Kamal’s claims, citing confidentiality.
Acting Indonesian ambassador Mulya Wirana said they had heard of others making such claims but “nothing of this magnitude”.
“There
have been many others who have made claims about treasure belonging to
Indonesian royalty and they have all turned out to be fake,” he said
yesterday.
Mulya added that his government had never heard of Kamal but said he would look into the claims.
A Tanjung Malim-born Dutch citizen claims he is a descendent of
the Emperor of China and that his bloodline is linked to royal families
in India, Java and Siam.
IT is not every day that you get to
meet a trillionaire. So when I was invited to interview Kamal Ashnawi, a
person I've never heard of, I said yes.
On Saturday morning, at a
Kuala Lumpur hotel coffee house together with two of Kamal's aides, I
waited for the so-called trillionaire.
Wearing a baseball cap,
long-sleeved shirt and jeans, he sauntered over to our table. The two
aides bowed, pressed their palms together to their forehead as if
greeting royalty and kissed his hands.
“We call him Tuanku as he is a sultan from Indonesia,” one of the aides whispered to me.
The money trail: Kamal with a document which he claims proves that he is a trillionaire. >>
According to Kamal, he is a Dutch citizen born in Tanjung Malim, Perak, on Jan 1, 1964.
“I'm
a descendent of the Emperor of China and in a history that went
haywire, my family fled from China to Kedah. I traced my bloodline to
the royal families of China, India, Java and Siam,” claimed the man who
is also known as Raden Mas Prabhu Gusti Agung Ki Asmoro Wijoyo.
“I
grew up in Tanjung Malim and my family here is very simple and
ordinary. Nobody in my family talks about our royal blood and wealth.
But my grandmother once told me: “You are special and, when the time
comes, you will know.”
It was in Holland in the late 1980s that
Kamal “found out who he really was”. A member of an Indonesian royal
family, kicked out of the country by president Sukarno, told him he was
of royal blood.
In London in the early 1990s, a lawyer told Kamal
about his royal family's massive wealth. Unconvinced, he told the
lawyer to prove his claims.
He and the lawyer flew from London to
Hong Kong to meet the “keeper of the royal treasure”. From there, Kamal
and the keeper travelled to Kunming in China.
They hiked up a mountain for four hours and reached a cave guarded by an old couple who, Kamal says, are immortals.
“If you tried to pass them without their blessing, you would cough blood and die,” he said.
Inside
the three-metre-high cave, Kamal saw gold bars stacked like a pagoda,
US$15mil (RM46mil) in jade and US$10mil (RM31mil) in diamonds and stacks
of US dollars.
“I took a gold bar and knocked it on a rock. It
was really gold. The treasure is the wealth of the dynasties that ruled
China. Their wealth was also kept in other mountains and in vaults all
over the world,” he said.
About three years ago, when Kamal watched Nicholas Cage's movieNational Treasure, he laughed.
“The treasure in the movie was small compared to the wealth I saw in the mountain,” he said.
Next, Kamal told of his meeting two years ago in Kuala Lumpur with Dr Wong Eng Po, a royal physician from China.
Dr
Wong placed his hand on Kamal's bald head, then immediately bowed in
front of Kamal and ordered his five followers to do the same.
“He
said I was the reincarnation of Emperor Nurhaci (1661-1626) of China.
He felt an energy on my head which was superhuman because an emperor,
unlike an ordinary human, has to think more.
He
elaborated that a few years ago, the royal family decided he would be
the sole administrator of the royal wealth kept in secret accounts in
about 1,000 banks worldwide.
“This means that 86.7% of the world's money belongs to me,” he said.
Taking out several folders, Kamal said: “You're lucky, I brought documents.”
He
produced an A4-sized paper with the photographs of the national
treasure, the immortal couple and several “official-looking” letters
allegedly from HSBC certifying he has an account of five trillion euros
(RM20tril).
“That is a small amount. I have more money in other banks and institutions,” he added.
I wondered why his name has not appeared in the Forbes' list of world's richest people. And a suspicion lingered about his claims.
However, I could not authenticate his documents since the bank was closed for Chinese New Year.
Kamal has not made any withdrawal from the account as “it is not money that you can move just like that”.
“The money is under the control of Indonesia, Germany, Britain, the US and the Euro Central Bank and I've got to go smooth with them,” he said.
“I
can't use the money directly but I will invest in certain projects.
Like three trillion euros (RM12tril) to green a desert in China.”
Curious, I asked what was the difference between a billionaire and a trillionaire.
He
replied: “A billionaire needs to show he has the money. But for me, I
don't need to show that I got money. I can travel in a bus. I can wear
slippers.”
Born in the year of the dragon, Kamal believes 2012 is
his year. In March, he says he will negotiate with institutions such as
the IMF to be recognised as the Emperor of Indonesia.
He says he's rich. But his story could just be as rich.
Let's
hope he is not another Elie Youssef Najem, the so-called Lebanese
billionaire who made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
In Indonesia, one ambitious entrepreneur has started a program teaching men how to be the person they've always dreamt of being. Always too shy to talk to the prettiest girl of the party? Then this program is for you. Andy Saputra reports from Jakarta, and gives us one or two special tips.
Feeling alone after the holidays? In Indonesia, you don't have to. This is part of the Pencinta Wanita program that helps men to understand and win the hardest game of all. The game of love. It teaches the ropes of social interaction, starting from introduction to how to keep them interested.
Pencinta wanita, which literally means women lover, was founded by Ronald frank, a self confessed promoter of love, he started this as an Internet forum and in 4 years, it has become his main source of income.
Ronald Frank, founder of Pencinta Wanita, said, "I was always a loser in relationships, from being cheated on to being used by women. This has encourage me to research on love. I found that there's a huge disconnect on what women think of love and what men think of love, I felt compelled to bridge this."
CCTV's Andy Saputra said, "This 2 day seminar is explaining the theory behind that bridge, Everything is broken down to points, explained and discussed.. Starting from changing their own mindset to live demonstration..Not unlike a war strategy."
Since 2009, Pecinta Wanita has conducted tens of seminars in all the major cities in Indonesia and it has an estimated 350,000 members. The program also bundled with products like ebooks and instruction videos. With revenue up to $100,000 annually and growing, it is good business. But this business of love, has also created some controversy.
And for Ron, the founder, this mindset change is his main goal.
They (Malaysian businessmen) don’t think global. They don’t want to even think Asean. For them, they are in a comfort zone and it is enough to do business in Malaysia.
NINE years ago, Datuk Ilyas Mohamed’s businessmen friends laughed when he asked them to invest in Indonesia.
“Malaysian economy was at its best until 10 years ago. We were at the peak. After that, it started to go down,” recalled the Cartrade Group executive chairman.
And Ilyas decided to enter the Indonesian market. His first deal was to buy Mandala Airlines.
The deal, however, fell through when a Singaporean company outbid his group. It put more money on the table.
But the setback did not discourage him.“I am very fortunate as I have a business partner there, who is one of the richest men in Indonesia,” noted the 50-something businessman.
His silent partner is a low profile multi-billionaire (we’re not talking about rupiahs but in US dollars).
“He is by name my partner. But he is not interested in my business as it is too small for him. Half of Jakarta belongs to him,” Ilyas related.
(Who? Google: Artha Graha Group.)
Now, 20% of Ilyas’ business is in Malaysia and the rest overseas, mostly in Indonesia; coal mining in Kalimantan and property development in Surabaya and Jakarta.
And his friends, who laughed at him as they thought he would be conned in Indonesia, are now following his footsteps.
“Indonesia is THE market. They have 245 million people. Can you go wrong in a market with 245 million people? And the Indonesian Government welcomes Malaysian companies,” he explained.
“There are a lot of opportunities in Indonesia. They are not even developing. They are just about to develop. If you go in now it is the best time. You can’t piggy back when they are (already) up there.”
Ilyas, however, cautioned:
“Of course, the important thing is to find the right partner. Many people go there and find the wrong partner, they get conned and then they say Indonesians are ‘penipu’ (conmen).”
The Malaysian market is small as the country’s population is 28 million.
“You can do small business (in Malaysia). But if you want to think big, you have to go out (of Malaysia),” the businessman said.
How big is Indonesia?
“Out of the 245 million Indonesians, about 10% are super rich and that’s the total population of Malaysia,” Ilyas said.
How rich is “rich”?
“Oh, they are very, very rich,” he said and gave a figure (in ringgit) which I thought was unbelievable.
The thing with Malaysians, according to Ilyas, was we think small.
“They don’t think global. If not global then think Asean.
“But, they don’t want to even think Asean,” he said.
“For them, they are in a comfort zone. Sudahlah (it is enough) to do business in Malaysia.”
Most Malaysian businessmen (and we are not talking about the bosses of CIMB etc) do not want to venture.
For example, Ilyas said, “Sri Lanka is a good market now. Their trade minister, chief justice and banker (with a bank equivalent to Maybank) came down to talk to our businessmen. But they were not interested.”
It is the opposite for Singapore entrepreneurs. With their rock solid Singapore dollar, they are rushing into Sri Lanka.
“They know that their local base is small and they have to do business outside of Singapore,” he said.
“Over the past 30 years, Filipinos are fed up with politics. And they work and work, building the economy themselves. And if we are not careful, we might be sending maids to the Philippines soon,” Ilyas said.
It is politics as usual in Malaysia.
“Instead of coming up with ideas on how to create business opportunities, our politicians come up with all sort of (political) issues,” Ilyas contended.
“They are creating issues for cheap publicity. For example, you can take 10 Chinese, 10 Indians and 10 Malays and sit them down together and there will be no racial issue among them.
“But it is the politicians and not the rakyat that come up with all sort of racial issues.”
“How to be a global player when you are thinking of politics 24 hours a day?”
Ilyas flies in and out of Indonesia spending about 15 to 16 days a month in that country.
So I asked: “Why don’t you relax and do business in Malaysia?”
His eyes gleamed. “Of course as a businessman, you are an opportunist. When you see so much of opportunities (in Indonesia) you just can’t resist.”
Ilyas assures that the Indonesian market is not as hostile as its fans during an Indonesia vs Malaysia football match.
Consumed with local affairs
One Man's Meat By PHILIP GOLINGAI
The Philippines looms as the next big Asean entity and Indonesia is the place to ‘park’ one’s money, but we would rather not know that the barbarians are at the gate.
THE barbarians are at the gate and yet Malaysians are more fixated with whether a mentri besar was caught for khalwat with a girl from Pasir Panjang.
Not true, says the MB. But tongues still wag.
Perhaps we should be more concerned with the fact that the Philippines will be the next big thing in Asean.
I remember reading a report saying that if we are not careful, in two decades or so we will be sending maids to Manila.
The thing about us is we are more consumed with domestic affairs than foreign happenings.
Yes, from my Twitter timeline, Malaysians are also interested in the fact that former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was arrested on charges of fraud and Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam was captured.
But we are more intrigued with when Parliament will be dissolved, and whether Parti Kita president Datuk Zaid Ibrahim will contest in Petaling Jaya Utara or Petaling Jaya Selatan.
I, too, am guilty of paying too much attention to local politics and not enough to global issues.
Yes, I’m aware of the eurozone debt crisis. But don’t ask me to get into specifics.
However, I’ve become a specialist on Kedah Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang’s challenge to DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua: he will consume a mug of Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia’s (KR1M) Chocolate Malt if the Petaling Jaya Utara MP donates RM1,000 to charity.
The challenge came after Pua claimed that KR1M’s 1Malaysia Growing Up Milk contained eight times the permitted amount of Vitamin A and was missing essential nutrients such as Omega 3, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin C and folic acid.
There was so much excitement in TwitterJaya (the moniker of the Malaysian twittersphere) over the issue, with some twitterers milking the issue with clever tweets such as “Pray for @TanKengLiang because he is going to drink 1Malaysia Choco Milk”.
Another big issue on TwitterJaya has spawned the mother of all puns and has also something to do with milk.
So syiok I was to absorb these comments like SpongeBob SquarePants, until I read a tweet by @Art_Harun (the lawyer) on Wednesday.
He tweeted in Malay: Malaysian politics – last month it was about molesting breast, this month it is about cows. When will we discuss the maximum impact of the eurozone on our economy?
Ouch. Time to come out from under my coconut shell.
So I decided to find out what the barbarians (Malaysia’s foreign rivals) were up to.
On Friday, I met a 20-something think-tank director at Coffee Bean in Bangsar Village to pick his brain.
The cerebral hotshot, who wants to keep a low profile at the moment, listed three challenges that Malaysia faces.
“Population wise, we are too small. We have a population of 28 million. Compare that with Indonesia’s 245 million, Thailand’s 66 million and the Philippines’ 103 million,” said the animated man, still wearing his maroon Friday prayer shirt.
“In terms of economies of scale, our enterprises will not grow so big because our market is small. We don’t have any option but to invest outside.”
Malaysian enterprises, he said, should think Asean to survive and grow.
“We should be on the forefront of ‘big’ Asean,” he explained.
He noted that Malaysian companies such as CIMB and Khazanah were investing in vibrant Indonesia, the country to “park” one’s money.
And through Twitter, he understands how important Indonesia is to the United States by reading the tweets of the American ambassador to Jakarta.
“Food security,” he said. “Many Malaysians do not realise that Malaysia imports almost everything – rice, fish and even chilli.
“Imagine chilli! I did not know that we imported chilli until I attended a briefing by Pemandu (Performance Management and Delivery Unit).
“We are also overly dependent on foreign workers. Free movement of people is important in a globalised world.
“But certain industries, such as palm oil and construction, should train Malaysians to work in these sectors.
“Suddenly they are finding it difficult to recruit Indonesian workers as that country’s economy is booming. Indonesians would rather work in Malaysian-owned palm oil plantations in their own country than in Malaysia.”
Note to myself: download the Economist iPad edition that has, as its cover story, “The magic of diasporas: Immigrant networks are a rare bright spark in the world economy”.
In the meantime, I wonder what will happen to Tan should he drink the 1Malaysia Chocolate Malt.
Founder: A man can have simultaneous, spiritual sex with wives in separate locations. Sex is the main reason people get married. The climax is like heaven on earth - Hatijah
PETALING JAYA: The Obedient Wives Club (OWC) stirred up fresh controversy when its founder claimed that spiritually, a man can have sex with all his wives simultaneously.
Club founder Hatijah Aam, who is also the author of the controversial book Seks Islam Perangi Yahudi Untuk Kembalikan Seks Islam Kepada Dunia (Sex in Islam Wage War Against Jews To Return Islamic Sex To The World), said that when a man reached the highest spiritual level, “he can appear in multiple apparitions and have sex with his wives even though they are in separate locations”.
“We never said that a man can have an orgy with all his wives on the same bed.
“That is not allowed.
“What we meant is when a man has reached the highest spiritual level, he will be granted the ability to have sex with his wives spiritually,” she said.
“This is how men who were at war in the past satisfied their needs,” she said at a press conference here yesterday from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, via Skype.
The club is going ahead with the global launch of the controversial sex guide despite protests from women's groups.
Hatijah said the book would soon be launched globally in countries where OWCs have already been set up, including Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Britain and France.
However, the club does not intend to launch the book in Malaysia. “The book was meant to be circulated among our members only.
“We knew that the public's reaction to the book would be negative because they do not understand the concept,” said Hatijah, who is also the wife of late Al-Arqamfounder Ashaari Muhammad.
Women's groups like Sisters in Islam, All Women's Action Society and the Women's Aid Organisation described the book as a cheap publicity stunt designed to raise the profile of the club.
Hatijah defended the importance of the detailed sex guide on grounds that sex is God's gift to married couples and they should be educated on the ways to approach it.
“Sex is the main reason people get married. And in a way, the climax is like heaven on earth,” said Hatijah.
She also explained that like praying, sex between married couples was also a pious act.
“So, why can't we teach people how to do that in a pure way?” she asked. (The Star)
Taking sex to the PhD-level?
One Man's Meat
By PHILIP GOLINGAI
The Obedient Wives Club wanted to keep it under the covers but since it leaked out, interest for its sex-guide book has yet to reach a climax.
FRIDAY’S press conference by the Obedient Wives Club (OWC) reminded me of Salt-n-Pepa’s 1991 hit song Let’s Talk About Sex.
The hip-hop song goes: “Let’s talk about sex. Yo, I don’t think we should talk about this. C’mon, why not? People might misunderstand what we’re tryin’ to say, you know? No, but that’s a part of life.”
That about sums up the exasperation of the club embroiled in a controversy after it published a pocket-sized 115-page Malay-language book titled Seks Islam, Perangi Yahudi Untuk Kembalikan Seks Islam Kepada Dunia (Islamic Sex, Fighting Jews to Return Islamic Sex to the World).
Embroiled in controversy: The sex guide which was published by OWC.
To clarify media reports that the book encouraged a man to have an orgy with all of his wives, five OWC officials (including two men) met the press.
At the start of the 90-minute press conference in Petaling Jaya, OWC national chairman in Malaysia Fauziah Ariffin read a statement from Hatijah Aam, the club founder.
Hatijah, one of the wives of the late Al-Arqam founder Ashaari Muhammad, said the sex guide was only for OWC members who were married.
“We are disappointed with those who distributed the book without our knowledge until it created a misunderstanding,” she said.
Fauziah then tackled the controversial issue of “seks serentak (simultaneous sex)”.
“Simultaneous does not mean that on the bed there is one man and four women,” she said with a sarcastic laugh.
“When a man has reached a high level of spirituality, his wali (spiritual guardian) can come in contact with his wives wherever they are.
“Maybe one wife is in Ipoh, another in Kuala Lumpur, in Singapore or in Johor but he can ‘come’ to his wife simultaneously. That is the wonder of spiritual sex.”
Wow! I thought. Note to myself: evolve from missionary position. But was “spiritual sex” possible, I wondered.
As if reading my thoughts, Dr Azlina Jamaluddin, a dentist and OWC leader, said it was not something a common person could comprehend.
“To you there might be no logic to what we are saying,” Dr Azlina explained. “But when Prophet Noah built an ark on a mountain at that time there was no logic in what he was doing.”
Mohd Rasidi, a male member of the panel, claimed what was taught in the book was “high level” sex. “It is PhD-level,” he said.
“To understand the book,” said Fauziah, “the author of the book herself wants to talk to the media via Skype from Mecca.”
And Hatijah’s voice filled the conference room.
In an exasperated tone, the 57-year-old Malaysian woman based in Saudi Arabia said the club purposely did not sell the book to non-members because the public would not be able to comprehend it.
In other words, you and I are practising “kindergarten-level sex” as compared with “PhD-level sex”.
And, quoting the Quran, Hatijah went deep into the theory of “spiritual sex”.
Here are some of Hatijah’s insights on sex.
> If your spirit is pure you can have sex with your wife even though you are abroad fighting a war.
> God allows sex sports. And to be good in sex you need practice.
> Orgasm releases a pain killer and helps with fever. But don’t have affairs on the pretext of curing your fever.
> Orgasm prevents wrinkles.
> Sex can make you younger. Jogging can be replaced by “sexcercise”.
> Only animals have sex without mukadimah (foreplay).
> It is important for a woman’s breasts to be sucked in order to prevent breast cancer (quoting a BBC news report).
During the Q&A session, I asked: “I’m curious, has the panel experienced simultaneous sex? Have you reached the PhD-level of sex?”
And – I’m not sure whether I imagined this – the panel members lowered their heads as if they felt sexually inadequate.
After a hush-hush discussion among themselves, Mohd Rasidi said: “So far, it is a knowledge that we are still trying to understand.
“We have not experienced it as our roh (spirit) has not reached PhD-level,” he explained.
“How about Hatijah?” I asked.
And Azlina, the dentist, said: “We have not experienced it yet. We are still trying. The person who has experienced it is Hatijah Aam. Hopefully one day, God willing, we can reach that level.”
Hatijah also revealed that she was writing a second sex guide book.
“The first book revealed 20% (sex knowledge). But the second book will reveal 100%. But we will make sure the public will not get their hands on this book about heaven on earth,” she added.
Anti-climax in ‘Seks Islam’ book
One Man's Meat By PHILIP GOLINGAI
The Obedient Wives Club (OWC) controversial pocket-sized Malay-language sex guide sold exclusively to its members is more of a mother’s labour of love for her son who was getting married.
IF I got RM50 for every time someone asked me a copy of Seks Islam, I would be as rich as Alex Comfort, the author of The Joy of Sex.
On Oct 21, in Petaling Jaya, at a press conference organised by Obedient Wives Club (OWC), the author of Seks Islam, Perangi Yahudi Untuk Kembalikan Seks Islam Kepada Dunia (Islamic Sex, Fighting Jews to Return Islamic Sex to the World), Hatijah Aam (pic) gifted the book to journalists.
Speaking via Skype from Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Hatijah, the OWC founder, told the club members: “Please present the book now to the media representatives.”
“We don’t want to hide it. We want to be transparent.
“We want to show that we are not hiding our (sex) knowledge,” she said.
And the dozen or so journalists became proud owners of the controversial pocket-sized Malay-language sex guide sold exclusively to OWC members for RM50.
Instantly, When I – @philipgolingai – “live” tweeted that I had a copy, I received several requests for a copy.
In my office, almost everybody I met was excited over my owning THE book except for this one guy who got aroused for the wrong reason. He thought I had a copy of the Auditor-General’s Report.
It seems everyone I knew lusted for the knowledge on how to graduate from kindergarten-level sex to PhD-level sex.
Who wouldn’t want to read a book advocating “spiritual sex” (a man could “come” spiritually to all his wives simultaneously even though they’re in Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Johor)?
And, by the day, the book is getting more notorious. Last week, the Sarawak government banned the distribution of Seks Islam in the state.
As my friends flipped through the book, their initial remarks were: “No picture ah?” or “No graphics ah? All words?”.
Sorry to disappoint, but the book isn’t the Comfort’s titillatingly illustrated Joy of Sex.
In fact, the 115-page booklet was a mother’s labour of love for her son who was getting married.
The preamble to Seks Islam – from its research – OWC found that what a woman sexually provided her husband was 10% of what his real sexual needs were.
“The wife thinks her 10% is 100%. She’s also dumb not to want to be taught about sex. She has a prejudiced perception that sex is obscene,” wrote Hatijah.
Chapter one explains why OWC was formed, chapter two talks about Hatijah’s husband, the late Al-Arqam founder Ashaari Muhammad, chapter three about giving 100% loyalty to your husband, chapter four is a guide for the future groom and chapter five is a letter to the bride.
Yawn. Yawn. Nothing that really makes me blush.
Hatijah also explained the difference between a man and a woman.
A man is held hostage by his desire. In order words, just like peeing, when a man has to go, he has to go.
A woman, however, can turn off and turn on her sexual desire as if it were a switch.
“If a wife loves her husband, she must instantly fulfil his sexual needs,” she advocated.
The climax of the book is in its conclusion.
Hatijah writes about her two-month training with Ashaari to become a heroic and angelic wife.
And she revealed her late husband could perform sex simultaneously with his wives, spiritually.
“Intimacy is much more pleasurable and ‘lighter’ through spiritual sex compared with physical sex,” she wrote.
Hatijah writes about seks seren-tak (simultaneous sex) but she does not reveal how to do it spiritually.
Perhaps, as she said in the press conference, what was taught in Seks Islam was just the tip of the iceberg (20%) of her sex knowledge.
So what has the book – as its title suggests – got to do with Jews?
From what I gather Jews have been propagating “extremely pornographic” illicit sex.
Am I missing something in life?
I’m not sure what I was expecting from the book. Techniques on how to please a Uranus chick with eight breasts?
For all its hype, reading the hyped book was an anti-climax.
Indonesia and Turkey – two great countries on the far reaches of the Islamic world – are benefiting from the freedom their people enjoy, boosting their international reputations.
WE HAVE seen how the Sept 11 attacks and Washington’s subsequent missteps have led to a diminution of American power and influence just as China was beginning its dramatic rise. Ten years on, the US is weighed down by debt and its failed dreams of global dominance.
Changes have also been taking place within the Muslim world. Indeed, in the aftermath of Sept 11, as well the more recent Arab Spring, the balance of power in and between these countries has shifted fundamentally.
In the past, Arab nations were considered pre-eminent. The revolutions in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya have shattered the prestige of the Middle East’s autocratic rulers. The image of former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak on trial has transfixed the world.
We now find ourselves asking the unimaginable – which Arab nation or kingdom will be next? Which redoubt of injustice, corruption and mismanagement will fall at the hands of its people?
As the Arab world – propelled by dramatic developments on the Internet, communications and social media – enters a period of turmoil and transition, other Muslim countries are emerging from the margins of history.
Most notable are Indonesia and Turkey, two great countries on the far reaches of the Islamic world. As fully-functioning democracies, neither need fear a repeat of the Arab Spring within their borders.
Indeed, their economies are benefiting from the freedom their people enjoy. This is boosting their international reputations while anti-reform Arab leaders appear morally bankrupt.
Indonesia has traditionally deferred to Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, whose King is also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The relationship is also economic: some 1.5 million Indonesians work in Saudi Arabia as maids and construction workers. Indonesia is also a big importer of Saudi oil and gas.
Still, controversies over the exploitation and abuse of Indonesian migrant workers in the kingdom have soured their relationship.
The NGO Migrant Care reports that some 1,105 Indonesian workers died in Saudi Arabia from 2006 till last year. Under Saudi law, however, there’s little chance for aggrieved foreigners to seek redress.
Indonesian anger was further stoked by the execution of Ruyati Sapubi, a 54-year-old West Javanese maid. She was convicted of murdering her Saudi employer, who she claimed was abusing her.
The mounting Indonesian anger culminated in protests in August by local activists and academics when the University of Indonesia conferred an honorary doctorate on Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.
The protesters complained that the award was inappropriate, given recent events and Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record.
As Anis Hidayah, executive director of Migrant Care wrote in Kompas: “The conferral of an honorary doctorate on Abdullah is an insult to the nation, especially to the Indonesian migrant workers who have contributed to the country with their sweat and blood, often in the face of death.
“Indeed, they are more dignified and respectable than academics who have willingly sold out their integrity.”
Indonesia has thus suspended all migrant labour to Saudi Arabia until it signs an agreement on worker protection. The republic’s growing prosperity means that these shows of independence, and its determination to protect its citizens, will increase.
Meanwhile, on the far western flank of the Islamic world, Turkey is positioning itself as a regional power. Blocked in its attempts to join the European Union, Turkey has turned eastwards with great effect.
With its booming economy and dynamic society, Turkey is poised to seize a prominent role in Middle Eastern affairs – especially in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
Ankara, for example, has demanded an apology and compensation from Israel for last year’s raid on the Gaza flotilla. With neither forthcoming, Turkey has frozen ties with the Israeli military and expelled Tel Aviv’s ambassador.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has also maintained an independent stance on both Libya and Syria. He insisted on joining Nato’s Libyan intervention but demanded special terms – principally that the enforcement of the no-fly zone be led by the alliance itself and not France.
The Turks are charting their own diplomatic course. They are no longer content to remain mere allies of the West, or a silent, acquiescent Middle Eastern neighbour.
Indeed, Indonesia and Turkey are bidding for leadership, not only of their respective regions but also of the Muslim world at large. As members of the G-20 Summit, they demonstrate how democratisation and liberalisation can strengthen nations.
Malaysia, for its part, is now at the crossroads. Can we embark on the more difficult, but ultimately far more rewarding, path of reform?
Whatever we choose, democracy – even in the Muslim world – is on the move everywhere. We must ask ourselves: are we to become the victims of history or its victors?
One million jobs to be filled by Malaysians before foreigners are made offers
By ZUHRIN AZAM AHMAD zuhrinazam@thestar.com.my
PUTRAJAYA: A total of 1,051,427 job vacancies have been listed by eight ministries and related agencies to be filled by Malaysians before the remaining vacancies are offered to illegal immigrants granted amnesty under the Government's legalisation programme.
Workers are needed in five main sectors manufacturing, plantation, agriculture, construction and production.
Other vacancies were recorded by the International Trade and Industry Ministry, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry, Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry, Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry, Home Ministry, Tourism Ministry, Transport Ministry and the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
He said the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry needed 237,700 workers, followed by Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (220,000), CIDB (165,000), Plantation Industries and Commodities (140,000), Home (10,000), Tourism (2,041) and Transport (963).
“These statistics were part of the feedback from the ministries and their related agencies during a meeting of the 6P amnesty programme chaired by the secretary-general (Tan Sri Mahmood Adam) on Monday.
“It was revealed that the five sectors, indeed, use huge foreign labour,” he said.
Alwi said all the vacancies would be advertised in several local newspapers in stages, beginning tomorrow.
“The jobs will first be offered to Malaysians before any remaining vacancies are opened to foreign workers.
“As such, Malaysians, especially the unemployed, are urged to take up the opportunities which will also support the Government's effort to reduce dependency on foreign workers,” he said yesterday.
Alwi said the next step in the process would be to match the demand from employers with the list of illegals who have registered under the 6P programme.
As of yesterday, a total of 2,210,235 legal workers and illegal immigrants had registered under the 6P programme, which consists of registration, legalisation, amnesty, supervision, enforcement and deportation.
Alwi said 1,215,004 were illegal immigrants and urged those who had yet to register to do so before the exercise ends on Aug 31.
“The ministry would also like to stress that illegals who registered with the programme will not be arrested,” he said.
MTUC: Better perks needed to attract locals
By ISABELLE LAI isabellelai@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: The Government must improve salaries and benefits of blue-collar workers if it wants to attract locals and reduce the country's dependence on foreign workers.
Just do it: Mustafa tells locals to “meet the challenge”.
The 1,051,427 job vacancies are in five main sectors manufacturing, plantation, agriculture, construction and production.
Roszali said the Government must improve the “overall package” for local workers including housing, medical, and transport benefits.
National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW) secretary-general Datuk G. Sankaran urged the Government to set a decent salary for plantation workers as there was no replacement for older workers who had retired.
“Young people prefer factory jobs but there are so many vacancies in plantations. We badly need local workers,” he said.
He said higher salaries would depend on their skills, pointing out that highly-skilled construction and factory workers in Europe were well-paid.
“If they don't take up the jobs, we will continue to have a problem of too many foreign workers in the country,” he said.
Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said he hoped the Government would proactively find Malaysians to fill the vacancies and not just pay “lip service” by hiring illegal immigrants instead.
He said the Government had to try and encourage locals to venture into these job sectors, especially unemployed youths.
Jobstreet.com country manager Chook Yuh Yng said locals were likely to take up these jobs if the wages were fair.
She said this was imperative as the cost of living was going up.
Recruiter Royce Cheah said locals in rural areas should be more willing to take up these jobs.
A quick fix we may rue
MALAYSIA has come a long way after getting independence. It’s going to be 54 years. There has been growth and prosperity. We are supposed to be heading towards a high income economy. I wish we can achieve it.
But look at the number of legal and illegal foreign workers in Malaysia. There are probably over three million of them. It is alarming and is a cause for concern. Malaysia has become a haven for foreign workers.
The influx of illegal and legal workers is a serious matter and we should stop our over-dependence on them.
If those who enter the workforce are professionals, highly skilled and come with funds to invest, I reckon it’s acceptable. Unfortunately, we have become a dumping ground in every way, including a transit point for human trafficking and drugs.
We are also gaining mileage as a destination for immoral activities. I can’t blame the culprits. Some of our law enforcers have been complacent and lackadaisical in executing their duties. Where is the patriotism?
There are loopholes and flaws in our system that even the foreigners, especially the illegal immigrants, are aware of. Otherwise how can they get away with falsifying identity cards and passports? They know how to hoodwink our enforcers.
Perhaps some of our enforcers themselves are working hand in glove with these illegals.
I’m not against foreign workers. But their inflow needs to be checked before they become a burden and a menace. In the name of globalisation and wanting revenue from tourism, we are importing a lot of unwanted elements into our country.
Social ills and disharmony are already prevalent at a worrisome level. It’s okay to sympathise with the plight of foreign workers but soon we might be at their mercy. Soon they will be fighting for their rights, and probably appeal to the Human Rights Commission.
I hope the policy makers can see the consequences. Rigid regulations and stern actions are necessary. I reckon we need a special task force to oversee this issue. Nipping it in the bud is the best solution.
Hopefully, the biometric registration will assist in getting a real picture of our country’s predicament. If the inflow of foreign workers is not checked, it’s going to cause a lot of headaches for Malaysia.
Come the festive and public holidays, many major cities and towns will be flooded with them. They will reflect our nation’s identity and image. What a way to advertise the country.
The disadvantages of employing foreign workers far outweigh the advantages in the long run. From the employers’ point of view, they desperately need the foreign workers.
This situation has been created by the employers themselves. Foreign labour is a quick fix for their woes. The employers pay them low wages and provide them with deplorable working conditions. Their accommodation is atrocious.
It’s time employers are committed to the social and economic growth of the nation as a whole. Their greed and self-centredness are certainly going to be stumbling blocks to making Malaysia a high income nation.
It is time employers start doing away with labour-intensive work methods.
Indonesia's ‘one maid,one task’ is raw deal in the new deal!
